It’s that time of year again, many regions are rapidly approaching their end-of-season championships, and in only a few short months is planned the first in-person worlds in 3 years. That being said, I think it is time to discuss whether or not this event will actually happen, and the separate matter of if it should actually happen.
As we speak, the omicron variant of COVID is causing unprecedented levels of new infections across the United States.
With many states lifting safety restrictions, and no signs of budging from the anti-vaccine crowd, it can only be expected that this get worse.
When the call was made to move Worlds 2021 online, daily new cases were less than half of where they are now, yet the plan still exists to move forwards with the 2022 event.
I am personally not optimistic. I know we are all desperate for a return to normal, to finally have another real World Championship after so long, but I really can’t see how Worlds happens this year either.
What are everyone else’s thoughts? I would be curious to get the perspective from RECF/VEX and what lines they’re using to guide their judgment. Is there a level at which the in-person Worlds event would be canceled again? When will that call be made by? If the plan hasn’t changed since I was told it, there is supposed to be both a Live Remote and In-Person Worlds event this year. If the In-Person event were to be canceled, would the LRT portion be expanded? I am interested to hear what the contingencies are.
I think that omicron is likely to go down in cases and as the temperature warms up, cases will go down too. Additionally, more people are taking boosters, so that could help too. Hopefully no more variants! I would expect Worlds to go on as scheduled for US teams at least.
My personal view and approach as EP, we roll with it for next two months. I have had to postpone an event and change format - hard decision to make, but any EP will put safety first. May is a LONG ways away and we are adapting as best as possible.
I think it is too early to really discuss without creating FUD - Fear, Uncertainty, and Doom.
I do think each region should make the best of the situation as possible and celebrate the successes of their teams.
Hopefully not. If the spread stops before anything bad happens, that would be great, but if it doesn’t, I hope that they announce worlds will be online a while before it’s supposed to happen, so teams have time to adjust. Last year just wasn’t the same.
It up to all of us to do our parts - stay safe, wear a mask, get a jab, be mindful of others, and be optimistic - even if there are those who refuse to work towards the common good.
Yes they did, and I referenced this in my original post.
The topic is not pointless. I made it because I want to hear what contingencies RECF has in place if COVID causes the event to be moved online again, and what markers are being looked at to make that judgment.
If RECF wants to do this, which they should (but won’t), they have already shot themselves in the foot by renting the venue in Texas, which by order of the governor makes it very hard to enforce vaccine mandates.
I fully believe that worlds will be cancelled under understandable circumstances.
It’s likely nobody will know if RECF will cancel worlds before they announce that they will, and if teams deem it unsafe to go or are unable they will simply not go.
As far as whether or not it should go on, at this moment I am in distanced learning at my school. I would expect that we would be allowed to travel to a worlds tier event but I don’t think we would be comfortable hosting such an event. Therefore, I think worlds should be cancelled if it were to happen during this spike, in my locality.
